Annual Review 2013: Close-up & Coming

Q&A with Mike Jones

Founder & CEO, Science Inc.

What’s Science’s strategy?

Science takes a new approach to building technology companies. We’ve gleaned best practices, from traditional VCs, accelerators and incubators, to create a formula that builds and transforms startups to be market leaders. We’ve assembled a strong group of best-of-breed thinkers and operators to position our portfolio companies to experience a greater ratio of success than those that just receive blind checks from investors.

How do you decide if a new concept is worth pursuing?

We have an internal brand development group that can build a concept for a physical product or brand and deliver a test of that product to the first 1,000 customers. We’ve essentially created a beta lab and a formula for execution that enables us to predict market viability. Everything we do is grounded in data and analytics, so if we can arm ourselves with early insights into a product’s or brand’s success based on early adoption, we can quickly decide whether to execute or scrap ideas. If we opt to execute, we are able to immediately build the right support teams, from manufacturers to customer acquisition tools, to speed up the early-day onboarding challenges most companies face when getting off the ground.

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What’s Science’s hottest company?

It’s impossible to pick just one, since we are building out incredibly disruptive businesses across e-commerce, marketplaces and advertising technology. In only two years we’ve had a number of breakout successes. Dollar Shave Club is a compelling e-commerce company that’s eliminated the middleman from the men’s grooming industry. In the marketplaces category, DogVacay has emerged as an industry leader. That team has built one of the largest and most trusted online communities focused on the $11 billion pet-care industry. And in the ad tech space, Hello Society is dominating the new image-driven social networks like Pinterest and Instagram. It understood immediately that images are the currency of today’s Web and works with hundreds of leading brands to navigate advertising and marketing across popular social networks.

Where will the business be in five years?

Our growth trajectory is strong and we’ve had a lot of early success helping startups grow and go on to raise additional capital. We plan to do a lot more testing before fully engaging with a new brand. We want to ensure that these companies are truly ready to support themselves as a freestanding business before we raise external funds.

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What’s really interesting for Science as we build a team of all-star operators is our ability to develop and launch internal brands. In five years, I hope Science is synonymous with company building. We want to transform the way brands are built in a dominantly digital world. That means a deep understanding of how to leverage customer support into customer loyalty and the ability to pass along extreme value directly to our customers. At the same time, it also means the ability to market brands using the latest in social technology. By consolidating the entire vendor chain required to build products and brands under one roof, Science will eventually become the Procter & Gamble of digital brands.

Make a prediction about the future of the startup world.

It is a difficult world to predict, but generally the thesis that software is reinventing the world is correct. When you look at a startup like Uber—which takes the position that in the future people won’t need to own cars and will use mobile technology to enable alternative systems of transportation—it is highly disruptive. I believe that nearly every industry will be reimagined through the lens of software, and I think it will be a unique moment in our history where power will quickly shift from historical players to the new disruptors.

Science Inc. is a technology studio that acquires, advises and transforms groundbreaking startups. As a hub of capital and creative and business expertise, Science has already launched nearly 20 companies.